Wish you had a list of amazing interactive science tools? Explore these periodic tables of elements that help make science interactive!
Engage students’ brain with these approaches:
Start positive and cultivate physical and emotional safety in the class
Inject suspense into your lesson. Try adding suspenseful pauses.
Movement activates the brain. Incorporate movements that support learning activities relevant to content.
Chunk learning to scaffold comprehension and processing
The new and unusual are of high interest to the brain. Create situations or demonstrations that break students out of their learning routine.
Take advantage of Think-Pair-Share type activities
Did you know that there are a ton of brain-based learning myths?
Connecting to children's culture and teaching in ways that taps into culture can scaffold student learning efforts. This isn't new. Bilingual/ESL teachers have been doing this for awhile (more here). These connections help students access rigorous curriculum and develop higher-level academic skills.
"Schema represent the pieces of inert information we've taken in, interpreted, and categorized. It is a set of conceptual scripts that guide our comprehension of the world. By coding knowledge and culture into stories, songs, chats, proverbs, and poetry, you can engage students in a communal learning experience aligned to their cultures" (Adapted from Zaretta Hammond).
Games are a great way to make it social, but online tools support "make it social" in a different way.
Google Meet
Microsoft Teams
Zoom
Virtual Support and Accommodations for English Learners in Texas
Make stories easy to create and share. Focus on video/audio interactions. Get your inspiration from some of these.
Flipgrid.com
Vocaroo.com
Voxer.com
One fun way to get students engaged in Classroom Discussions is have them design fantasy maps for imaginary lands. This is a fun activity your students can get started on, and continue to build with an anthology of stories in video, audio, or text+audio formats. Learn more about teaching critical thinking and map analysis resources, including map-making with Google Slides and Google Jamboard.
Add your response to ONE column.
Adapted from Source Activity via Ohio Leadership
Focus on relationships between teachers and students.
Use “Who am I?” activities, ask students to list their favorite books, activities, food, memories.
Greet students at the door, connect with them before class by name with a handshake, fist bump or nod generate greater student engagement in learning and fewer class disruptions
Explicitly teach SEL competencies since it helps students identify emotions (e.g. Edsby Social, Emotional Check-Ins).
Incorporate SEL programs such as from CASEL
Try standalone activities, such as SEL Kernels, including games, routines, storytelling, and more
Address teachers' well-being through self-care, SEL support, supportive relationships, and online resources (Committee for Children, Second Step, Transforming Education, Panorama Toolkit)
Sign up for TCEA's Social and Emotional Learning Online, Self-Paced Course. The purpose of this self-paced online course is to introduce educators to social and emotional learning (SEL). Learn strategies to incorporate SEL in your classroom and build your own SEL skills as well.
Teacher Credibility (1.09)
Success Criteria (.88)
Teacher Clarity (.76)
Feedback (.64)
Spaced vs Massed Practice has us space out over time the intervals when we study information. This ensures that significant learning occurs. Combined with retrieval practice, you can make long-term memory connections for new information. Flashcards, practice problems, and writing prompts can improve learning. Learn more here.
SOLO Taxonomy: Uni/Multi-Structural
Student has a lack of understanding or knowledge of concept. Or, student has an idea of what it is but not what to do with it or how it connects to other ideas.
One of the oldest findings in educational research is the strong relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. Word knowledge is crucial to reading comprehension and determines how well students will be able to comprehend the texts they read" (Source: Visible Learning for Literacy).
SOLO Taxonomy: Relational Level
Student can link ideas together to see the big picture.
Jigsaw Method (1.20)
Classroom Discussion (.82)
Reciprocal Teaching (.74)
Concept Mapping (.64)
Metacognition Strategies (.58)
"A deep learning, instructional strategy which aims to foster better reading comprehension and to monitor students who struggle with comprehension. The strategy contains four steps: summarizing, questioning, clarifying, and predicting.
It is “reciprocal” in that students and the teacher take turns leading a dialogue about the text in question, asking questions following each of the four steps.
SOLO Taxonomy: Extended, Abstract Level
Student can look at ideas in new and different ways.
Transfer Strategies (.86)
Problem-Solving Teaching (.68)
Service Learning (.58)
Peer Tutoring (.53)
"The argument is that readers who establish more connections between a text and their prior knowledge produce stronger situation models, or cognitive maps of a given state of affairs. This situation model, in turn, is aimed to improve comprehension and recall." Gain these benefits when encouraging students to 1) Acquire, record, organize, synthesize, remember information; 2) Skim, identify relevant information, take notes; 3) Study materials for a test
Amazing Lesson Design Outline (ALDO) (left),
a tool for guiding lesson design for diverse learners.
Use the choice board (right) to get you started on designing. It features four choices for each of the lesson design stages in ALDO.
Work to build a learning partnership with each student, focused on creating a safe, positive learning environment that aligns to the diverse, deep culture backgrounds of students.
Ask yourself, "Where are the students now?" How many are 1) emerging, 2) developing, 3) meeting or 4) exceeding expectations? Determine what formative assessment you will use to assess students. (Source: Diane Sweeney)
Based on the phase of learning your students are in, select a high-effect size instructional strategy and digital tool that will speed learning.
Repeat the assessment you used earlier. Chart student progress towards learning objective. Adjust your existing approach.
Relationship building between coach and teacher
Pre- and post-assessment of students
Tracking student movement towards/away learning targets
Types of feedback offered, what works and what doesn't
Providing just-in-time, evidence-based suggestions regarding instructional strategies and digital tools in use
Encouraging Self-Judgement and Reflection, including video
Wish you could learn more about the essentials of coaching for results? You will want to read the Coaching for Results blog series. In this five part blog entries, you get what you need to know to be successful and begin. Grab and share the infographic to the right.
There's a lot to learn about neuroscience, brain myths and truths. In this Wakelet collection, you'll find blogs, books, research, and popular articles about the brain.
Take some time to explore it. The brain is at the heart (sorry, corazon) of human learning.
(Pssst...it's not really 50 questions)